Congressional Shooting: One Week Late(r)

I am a week late on this, but I feel the need to post anyway. For the record, my opinion hasn't changed since I first found out about the shooting. Of course the shooting is tragic - and a little scary for those of us that work for elected officials. But in the press the shooting was seen through the lens of a few different issues, which I will give my comments on.

Political Discourse
I think Jon Stewart handled this better than almost anyone (Obama's speech was pretty good, too, but his was more inspiring while Stewart was more honest and without pretense). Basically, I don't think there is any evidence that the shooter was inspired by over-the-top conservative rhetoric, and even if he claimed he was, I maintain that most people know that the commentary is nothing by hyperbole.

At the same time, I think our political rhetoric, while maybe not that unusual throughout our history, is ill-informed and hysterical. I think both sides are guilty. However - and feel free to take this with a grain of salt - I do think Republicans are worse and more hysterical. Or at least there are more lies and fake conspiracy theories than I remember coming from Democrats during the Bush Jr. years.

The point is that I would love it if we could have intelligent and honest debates about the issues. I don't intend to suggest that they should be dispassionate. They can be aggressive as long as they are not personal. It would be great if we lived in a world where we could fight political battles during the day and laugh about it over dinner and drinks at night.

Guns
I don't think guns are the big issue here. Granted, I support background checks and bans on assault weapons. But at some point, you won't be able to stop crazy people from getting a gun.

My bigger concern though is that most gun violence is not perpetrated by people with legal guns but by people with illegal guns. I don't care about guns in Starbucks or concealed weapons laws. I would much rather deal with laws to prevent people from getting guns on the black market.

This is a significant challenge though. Look around at activities that we have tried to ban and see if we have been successful. From prostitution to drugs to guns we are unable to stop market transactions that people want to engage in. This doesn't mean we should give up, but we need to realize that this is the challenge and is one that is far more difficult than our discourse suggests.

Congressman King's legislation is completely absurd and amazingly the rest of the GOP sees that. He wants to ban someone from taking a gun within 1000 feet of a judge or elected official. So King clearly wants to protect himself and people like him from guns, but seems uninterested in the hard fight to protect those that are actually dying from gun-related deaths - poor minorities in urban areas.

I still think that one of the best strategies for dealing with this would be to create a new gun rights group that protects rights of individuals that have passed basic background checks but is really tough on assault weapons and the black market. The NRA seems unwilling to help on that front - especially since the gun manufacturers don't care who buys their guns as long as they make money.

Sarah Palin, et al
Two quick things: Why do we respond and make a big deal about what the crazies say? Why are we obsessed with Sarah Palin's idiotic tweets? Why do we care about Glen Beck's absurd conspiracy theories? And why do we go crazy when Limbaugh makes another racist statement or bold-faced lie?

It's like training a dolphin - if you want it to stop misbehaving, ignore the bad behavior. Trying to condemn the bad behavior only gives it attention, which is what it really wants afterall.

Second - Palin's video after the shooting made it crystal clear to almost everyone that she cares most about herself. She wasn't confronting the issue. Instead she was playing the victim at a time when dozens of actual victims were dealing with a real nightmare.

About Palin's Exit

There has been a lot of talk and analysis about Sarah Palin's sudden resignation. I think this post by Stanley Fish, someone I rarely agree with, is the best I've read. I think he is mostly right that she resigned for the reasons she stated - that the intense attacks have distracted from the normal affairs of Alaska. I am not saying this was the right decision (after all, Clinton did not resign), but I can understand it. The only caveat I would add is that she was somewhat cryptic about her future plans, which has lead to a lot of the speculation.

This post by The Politicker is similarly critical of the all the analysis and is pretty fair.

The new conservative columnist at the times also wrote about Palin. His column though makes a common false claim about the way people perceive Palin. He, and others, claim that Palin was attacked for not having the right education. I find this absurd. True, her education was frequently mentioned, but the problem was not her education itself, but her lack of competence and thoughtfulness. Her education was used as evidence of these concerns, instead of the requirements for being a good public official.

I have always believed, and I think the country mostly agrees, that there are no educational requirements for public service. But being thoughtful and smart is required.